(more to come later)
December 4, 2010
April 22, 2010
My Attempt at Using QR Codes
QR code for Lawn With Gnomes
My obsession with QR Codes began a few months ago. Since my discovery of them I’ve spent countless hours reading blogs, use cases on wiki’s and creating unique ideas for social events.
Recently I convinced my boss to add QR Codes to the back of our paper fliers because I felt that was the best way we could test it out on the public with minimal cost to the company.
The idea:
Add a QR Code to the back of our fliers for each genre of concerts in the hopes we could drive traffic via mobile phones to our site.
Problems:
1. QR codes need to be bigger if they contain more information, we needed them to be small. The web address we were pointing to was http://www.granadatheater.com/ which comes up as pretty dense QR code.
2. Tracking, how were we going to track the traffic sent from the codes? For QR Codes at the moment there is no unified way to track them.
3. Education for the uninitiated. Realizing the general public has no clue what these things are and trying to teach them.
Solutions:
Making a QR code that was less dense was achieved by creating a shortened URL with http://j.mp . By making the URL contained within the QR code smaller via the j.mp URL we were able to solve problems 1 & 2 easily. Now we have easy to read codes and we can track their progress. Yes, you read it right, metrics on print media.
Now, onto education.
It’s hard to find good materials that already exist online to teach non-geeks about QR Codes. I did my little attempt below using a demonstration of me scanning one with my Nexus One. I then posted that video to Youtube (below), later to Granada Theater’s Facebook fanpage.
I am still researching and creating documentation that is a quick easy read to teach people about the codes. But at this point in time it remains up in the air if we will continue using them due to being somewhat ahead of the curve.
I will say recent mainstream attempts including the one below for Iron Man 2 beginning to crop up so it’s a possibility that it could be continued.
November 19, 2009
Imogen Heap at Granada Theater
Not gonna lie, last night was probably the highlight of my internship at the Granada Theater.
I’ve been a long time fan of Imogen Heap, as in, I had iMegaphone on cassette tape back in 1998 and my old friend Ryan Obermeyer did the art work for Speak For Yourself. When I heard that she had chosen the Granada as the venue for her Dallas performance I had an internal SQUEEEEE! Think flaming gay man with flailing arms excited running down a hallway excited. But as most know me, I am a calm natured in real life and not so ready to start fires with my gayness, so I kept my cool but with a big smile.
The Show
I unexpectedly managed to get in during the sound check for Immi. When I say unexpected, I mean I didn’t realize she’d be doing sound check so late. She literally left the stage minutes before people entered the venue.
My good friend Eva and I sat and watched as Immi tested various equipment and songs in her non-stage clothes and her simple hair up in a bun do. It was one of those “damn this job is so awesome” moments.
Then in a unbelievably packed to the hilt Granada Theater I watched Back Ted-n-Ted and Tim Exile play with what I like to call “toys” on stage, working their craft to the delight of the crowd.
When Imogen hit the stage she did as I expected, wonderful. She’s got a charmed presence on stage that is endearing to fans of her music. Her tinkering with the equipment, song restarts and mumbling to herself into an open mic during the show never felt like a disappointment, it just added charm to the show.
She played nearly an equal amount from both of her mainstream albums and nothing from iMegaphone. One of my favorite songs from Eclipse, Bad Body Double was presented as almost more of a rap version than the album’s version. With Buffi Jacobs of Polyphonic Spree Immi performed another favorite, Aha! which I have always thought of as very much like a Tim Burton/Danny Elfman composed song with Imogen Heap doing vocals. Come to think of it, even the tree and lighting for the tour almost seems like early Tim Burton (but a little more feminine).
During Hide and Seek and Just For Now Imogen “played the crowd like an instrument” # which admittedly sent chills through me as I heard the perfectly synchronized voices of the people below rise up and meet with Imogen’s vocals. It was one of those moments I live for when seeing an artist perform live.
Behind the Granada I waited in the cold along with many other fans to get an autograph and a photo with Imogen. While it was chilly, it was worth the wait. She’s just as pleasant in person as she is on the stage. She even got the group of fans to sing Happy Birthday to a girl named NayNay which I’m sure made for one super happy fan and a wonderful birthday present!
The techie in me took the time to put together an RSS feed of links to postings all over the web about the show using Yahoo Pipes and Imogen’s ingenious idea to use hashtags/tags for every show on the tour. You can click here to view it. Also embedded below are some photos and videos I took. Enjoy!
September 7, 2009
Living room concert w/Patrice Pike
Here are 2 mp3′s I managed to record with my camera. The audio isn’t perfect, but that bad for a cheap digital camera.
Polishing the Looking Glass – Patrice Pike/Sister 7 [Play]
Joey (Concrete Blonde cover) – Patrice Pike [Play]
August 5, 2009
What I’m Listening To [a lot]
It’s been probably over a year or two so since I’ve had the time to sit down and really soak up an album. Since my unemployment I’ve been mentally all over the place. Fear, anxiety, excitement, the blahs, and some bliss. Throughout this time I’ve been listening to music a lot and found a few that just get played way too much to not be shared with others.
Number one on my list is anything by my newly discovered favorite artist, Antony and The Johnsons. He/she’s the most eccentric artists I’ve ever listened to. If you’ve been around me, you know I like weird shit. While the singer is really the most eccentric part of the band, it’s the lyrics belted out with amazing vocals and accompanying lyrics that are just hauntingly beautiful. Antony’s voice is very unique, it has the characteristics of a female voice but there are a few tones that I’ve only heard guys hit. Possibly my favorite song from the new album is Aeon.
A second favorite from an older album of Antony’s is Fist Full of Love
Next one up is Florence and The Machines. I think she’s been popular over in the UK for a while but until Matt pointed her out to me I was clueless. Her voice reminds me of Natalie Merchant mixed with a little bit of Stevie Nicks. Most of the songs are just fun and not serious. I could see her getting big here if she had more press.
Florence and The Machines – Dog Days
Florence And The Machine – Dog Days
[myspace 45965278]
Quickly becoming a favorite of mine is Bat For Lashes, (another one Matt told me about). She’s had one album out that wasn’t extremely successful, but still has some really good songs on it. I do remember seeing the video for What’s A Girl To Do forever ago. Her new album Two Suns is good from beginning to end. The entire album is about duality, I think almost every song has a mention of two of something. She apparently has an alter personality that she’s in conflict with throughout the album (snore). I could honestly care less about the alternate personality thing because it’s been done before over and over again. But if having a split personality helps you create a good album then by all means, write away. So tossing the cheesiness aside, Bat For Lashes aka Natasha Khan created a pretty and engaging album. Check out my favorite song Pearl’s Dream video below:
Some other recommendations include, The Gossip – Music for Men
Gossip – Long Love Distance (Live 2009) from yonki on Vimeo.
and
Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill.